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SessionFour007

How to Survive, Excel and Advance as an Introvert
NaomiKarten

Has your introversion posed challenges for you in succeeding in your current position or advancing in your career? Would you like to strengthen your effectiveness in communicating and working with your more extroverted teammates, colleagues, and customers?

This session will provide a safe, respectful setting in which we will:

- compare and share our experiences, challenges, frustrations � and successes � as introverts in an extroverted world

- discuss ways in which our introversion has been an impediment and ways in which it�s been an asset (and how to convert impediments into assets!)

- identify the skills that can help us survive and thrive without sacrificing our natural introverted preferences

- describe ideas and techniques that can help more introverted and extroverted people work together effectively

- hear from extroverts who attend (extroverts: please join us!) how they perceive our behavior � both the positives and negatives � and discuss whether and how we should modify our behavior to maximize positive perceptions

If there are other aspects of this issue you�d like us to address, contact me at [email protected].

Minimum: None

Maximum: None.

Thanks to all of you who attended this session. For me, this was a delightful, serene, informative, light-hearted, caring, sharing session, and I hope you enjoyed it. For all of you who missed it and are wondering, yes, we did talk -- a lot! Thanks again to Ira for offering us the view from The Other Side.

Here are the flipcharts notes from the session. They don't begin to capture all that we discussed, but hopefully, they'll be helpful to people who weren't at the session. Feel free to add anything that I missed. NaomiKarten

What Assets Do We Have as Introverts?

- Glue
- Optioneering (offering options)
- Really good listening
- Ability to take notes and report out (thereby having an opportunity to influence the proceedings)
- Self-reliance
- Fun to hang out in my head!
- Work better with other introverts
- We don�t interrupt each other

How Extroverts Perceive Introverts:

- �Runing away� � not wanting to interact � prevents extroverts from getting the energy they need
- Get to the point already!
- Need to pause and give introverts time to contribute
- Need to get feedback to feel a connection
- Introverts are powerful thinkers
- Often wonder: Are they (the introverts) judging me?
- Speed difference in speaking (introverts seen as slower)
- Pace of conversation too slow
- Introverts may need to flee to recharge
- Extroverts see being interrupted is a sign of caring (but introverts don�t like to interrupt others)

Skills Introverts Could Benefit by Developing:

- Interrupting skills/accepting interruptions/preventing interruptions
- Facilitation training
- Toastmasters to improve speaking skills
- Partner with someone to work on developing skills

Helpful Techniques for Introverts:

- Just put it out there!
- Use person�s name in speaking with them
- It�s OK to be �selfish� � such as taking quiet time for ourselves
- Encourage distribution of the agenda in advance
- Make notes and use them in commenting
- Use post-it notes so everyone can offer ideas even if not speaking out
- Use humor about our introversion
- Recognize our strengths!